Oil Change - How often?

[Hawks1980]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a 2006 Audi A6 2.0 TDi (BRE Engine). I took it in for a full service today at my local independant garage, who do a really thorough job for significantly less money that a main dealer. The car is on a long life service schedule but I would like to ensure it is kept in top condition so am considering taking it for more regular oil changes between services. This will also allow the garage to check my oil pressure on a more regular basis. What do people recommend a good frequency of oil change is? I've read that 'manufacturers' advise every 3000 miles but this is from companies like Valvoline and Castrol so I guess I am after an unbiased view.

Cheers

Tom.

[gianton]

I have mine changed every 15.000 km or 9.300 mi. I use only Longlife 3.

[Crasher]

Use Longlife 3 oil by all means but stick to the annual 9300 mile interval for the sake of your engine.

[humphrey999]

I have run cars on long life servicing since 2004 and have done between 45k and never less than 20k miles a year in BMWs, Volvos and Audis, both new and used. I've never had any problems and will continue to use longlife servicing. My situation may not relate to yours so you may choose to do something different but I've never heard any material, objective justification for servicing more frequently than the manufacturer recommends

A lot of people predict the worst if you dare to go past a year or 6000m but the 'common'/most-talked-about failures for the A6s seem not to be service related, personally I think you'd be fine on longlife, that's what the oil and the car are designed for.

My F-i-L has run an C6 Allroad to over 100k miles on longlife servicing without any problems and he had a C5 allroad before that on longlife that went to 230k. the only reason that he got rid of the C6 early was that it was on a lease.

[Crasher]

If you had seen the number of worn cams and failed turbo's that I have seen that myself and others have put down to extended service intervals you would not be so convinced of the benefits of 18K oil change intervals. Believe me I love the money from turbo rebuilds and fitting new cams but the owners don't seem so keen...

[humphrey999]

Well, clearly I can't argue with you on the basis of experience; I have had the luxury of someone else replacing my cars each time before 100k miles so it may be that the next owners have reaped the consequences.

Some other, again limited, personal expereince is that some owners of VAG cars on Longlife serivicing have no idea that special oil is needed and top up with regular GTX or the equivalent, perhaps this doesn't help in the longrun either especially at the rate my PD engine uses oil. I reckon it has an effective oil change between services anyway!

[Crasher]

some owners of VAG cars on Longlife serivicing have no idea that special oil is needed and top up with regular GTX or the equivalent, perhaps this doesn't help in the longrun

Yes this does happen

[EssexGonzo]

For me, 12k / annually maximum is as far as I'm prepared to leave things. For some reason my car was delivered on the fixed regime, something I've been quite happy about.